Ron Paul on Crimea: None of America’s business

​Ron Paul is once again speaking up about the situation in Crimea, and this time the former congressman is condemning critics from his own country who are seemingly obsessed with the recent secession.

The former Republican representative for Texas told RT earlier this month that he didn’t think the
United States had any business meddling in overseas affairs and
that worsening tensions in Ukraine should be resolved only by
those directly involved. The citizens of Crimea have since
approved a referendum to separate from Ukraine, but both the US
and European Union responded with sanctions against certain
officials from Russia and the former Ukrainian government as a
result.

In an op-ed published by USA Today on Monday, Paul asked:
“What’s the big deal?”

“Opponents of the Crimea vote like to point to the illegality
of the referendum,” Paul wrote. “But self-determination
is a centerpiece of international law.”

"Article I of the United Nations Charter points out clearly
that the purpose of the UN is to ‘develop friendly relations
among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights
and self-determination of peoples,’” he said. “Why does
the US care which flag will be hoisted on a small piece of land
thousands of miles away?”

“Where were these people when an election held in an Iraq
occupied by US troops was called a ‘triumph of democracy’?”
he asked.

The former congressman’s remarks were published just hours after
the White House authorized a new wave of sanctions against Russia
and released a statement from US President Barack Obama in which
he warned that more could be ordered “if Russia continues to
interfere in Ukraine.”

But according to Paul, the US government has more or less ignored
recent efforts waged by the people of Scotland, Catalonia and
Venice to secede, and instead had opted only to focus on the
Crimean conflict which, as a result, he says, “has led NATO
closer to conflict with Russia than since the height of the Cold
War."

“Perhaps the US officials who supported the unconstitutional
overthrow of Ukraine's government should refocus their energies
on learning our own Constitution, which does not allow the US
government to overthrow governments overseas or send a billion
dollars to bail out Ukraine and its international
creditors,” the former congressman wrote.

Speaking to RT only a few weeks earlier, Paul said that “this
idea that we are going to start bailing out Ukraine is total
nonsense” and that “thewhole thing makes no
sense whatsoever from an economic viewpoint [or] from a political
viewpoint.” The US has since escalated efforts to assist the
interim Ukrainian government and at the same time attempt to
punish Moscow, however, and now Paul writes that “neither the
US nor the EU can afford significant sanctions against
Russia.”

“Global trade provides too much economic benefit to both
sides,” he wrote. “Indeed, international markets rallied
on news that the sanctions would be thus far minimal. They
understand that trade and economic engagement are the surest
roads to peace and prosperity. Let's hope governments will follow
their lead.”